About Our Farm
We started growing Christmas trees in 1970 while I was friends with an older gentleman tree grower. He spent winters in Mexico and was a storyteller first class. Upon hearing his tales, I got to thinking that I could just put trees in the ground, watch them grow and collect the money later. Was I ever wrong!
My dad helped me purchase a piece of land near Almond, WI where I grew up. I borrowed a tree planter from the gentleman and planted 1,000 Scotch pine and 1,000 spruce in the spring of 1970. Weeds overtook the trees quickly and I lost most of them the first year.
The next year I watered them during the dry season by hauling water in 55-gallon drums and pouring a quart of water on each tree by hand. Of course most ran off and what didn’t, the grass and weeds absorbed…(sigh). But – fewer trees died, so that was okay.
Over the next few years I lived in Lake Delton, Baraboo, Lake Geneva and Dodgeville, WI. Needless to say I spent more time on the road tending to the trees hours away in Almond. In 1979 I took a job in Wausau, WI and decided to find suitable land for growing Christmas trees and move my operations here.
I went through all the growing and learning pains a novice does. At one time my wife and I had trees growing on 5 different farms between Almond and Wausau. I had tools scattered all over the country. We finally found a good piece of tree land in Marathon County in 1986. We built a shop and started planting 2,000 trees each year.
Those of you from the Wausau area may remember our retail tree lot near Marathon Park in Wausau, which we operated for about 25 years. Our farms created our own dependable source of quality trees. We opened our farm for Choose and Cut in 1992, and we built our home on the farm in 1999. At last we were able to consolidate our operations in one place. At least all my tools and pieces of equipment were on 35 acres so they were easier to find. 😉
Our object is to provide a memorable Christmas family experience and tradition for our customers with their special tree they chose and harvested on our farm. We have been honored and blessed through the years to meet so many of you, and be a part of your Christmas celebration.
All our facilities are handicapped accessible. And pets are welcome!
View our Services here.
Charitable Donations
Newby’s Farms donates 10 trees to Trees For Troops as well as collects other trees being donated by other wholesalers and then loads them onto the Fed Ex truck. Trees for Troops, a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, provides free, farm-grown Christmas Trees to United States armed forces members in all branches of the military and their families, through donations, sponsorships, grants and the work of many volunteers.
If you would like to support Trees for Troops, you can either click here or you can provide a tree for a military family by donating $20 at our farm. $5 of your donation will go directly to the Spirit Foundation and we will ship an additional tree along with our donated trees. You must order the tree before Thanksgiving.
More Photos from Our Farm:
Planting
Fertilizing
Pets are always welcome!
Our gift shop